I haven’t blogged in a while and figured I might as well since I have a chance.

I just thought I’d share about all the wonderful fun I’ve been having running my daycare.
Solomon is potty training. Okay, rewind. Running a dayhome I knew at some point I’d have to come to grips with the fact that I’d be helping someone else’s child learn to use the potty. I don’t like accidents (potty accidents). When Joy was potty training we started with keeping her diaper on and just putting her on when she said she needed to go, or every few hours (she can hold her bladder for longer than I can when not pregnant). Once she got used to actually using the potty we removed the diaper. Sure she had a couple times when she was playing and realized a little too late she had to go, but most the accidents were in the bathroom. If she did have an accident she’d come tell me (or cry).

Solomon has been doing great potty training at home (so I’m told). Day 1 here potty training. He asked to go on the potty but didn’t do anything. After 3 attempts I decided he needed to go just wasn’t able to so I put him in a diaper. Come nap time. I decided to let Sol stay up a bit later, while I put Olivia down (maybe 10 minutes). I heard him go into his diaper bag and figured he was looking for his teddy. I was wrong. After I had Olivia tucked in all nice I received a surprise I just never expected.

I walked into the living room. Sol sat in the middle of the carpet wearing his underwear sitting on a clean diaper (I think he was trying to figure out how to put it on). Next to him sat a poop filled diaper with about half a package of wipes inside. Poop smears encircling him and the diaper. He changed himself. Thank goodness we’d just done a toy cleanup or else it could have been worse. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it’s worse than anything I expected. I stopped and counted in my head so I wouldn’t explode. I picked him up and set him down in the bathroom, I told him not to move a muscle (he didn’t). I told Joy to stay away from the living room and picked up the diaper (tossed it). I then went into the bathroom and cleaned Sol up (poop on shirt, unders and bum). I didn’t exactly know what I should do… I know what I’d do with my own kids, but he’s not mine. So I grabbed out the spot remover and told him he had to sit there and watch me scrub the carpet. He did, and Thank goodness it was ‘fresh’ enough the spot remover worked great!

Day 2 (4days later), again he comes not in a diaper. He has a small pee on the living room carpet. Again I put him in a diaper. He did end up peeing again later on the potty even though he was in a diaper.

I’ve decided he can wear a diaper here. I’ll ask him if he needs to use the potty, and he seems okay at telling me when he needs to. I just don’t enjoy potty training. I think I’ll keep him in a diaper until Christmas (I watch him 2-3 times a week), then after the Christmas break (if I get one) he’ll probably be ready to not need a diaper. He’s my first experience in potty training a child that’s not mine. When  I watched Grace they took 2 weeks off on holidays and she came back potty trained (1 accidental pee when playing), Gabe came already potty trained (although I did have to get used to the ‘standing to pee’ thing ~ eww!). I’m also not used to little boys peeing. I know 100% my son will sit to pee at home, because that’s just gross (especially when I have to sit and clean). I hope I can train Sol to always sit while here….

Well that’s my fun Thinking about running a day home? I could talk you out of it, or into it

I did a couple of these when pregnant with Olivia, although apparently my blog has deleted them But here is one for this pregnancy!

How far along? 26 weeks Tomorrow
Total weight gain/loss: Up 5lbs
Maternity clothes? Oh yeah! Have been since around 7weeks!
Stretch marks? No new ones that I know of.
Sleep What’s that? Joking. I actually sleep okay besides the Pelvis pain and the girls waking.
Best moment this week We (think) we’ve finally decided on a name (no we aren’t sharing it)
Movement He’s already trying to dig his little feet between my ribs and skin (oh the joys)
Food cravings Eggnog and Grapes (not together).
Gender Boy
Labor Signs None
Belly Button in or out? Flat. (well still a bit in, but mostly flat)
What I miss Having no pelvis pain, eating sushi and being able to easily lift Joy. (and I’m sure Olivia misses me not dropping her into her crib because I can’t bend that far).
What I am looking forward to My mom coming to my next Dr’s apt and getting to hear our little guys heartbeat.
Milestones I realized just how big I am, can’t see my feet, can’t paint my toe nails, and just feel BIG.

If you don’t know Charlotte, or her story, or even just want to have an update on this precious little girl please read her parent’s blog ~ www.robandallisonamsing.blogspot.com

Please pray with me~

Lord we lift Charlotte up to you. You are our healer and deliverer. We pray for complete healing and restoration in Charlotte’s body, from the top of her head down to the tips of her toes. Your healing to heal all parts in between extending to every limb. We pray that any tumors/cancer to be demolished and everything be restored as You originally designed it to be. You designed us in Your image before we were conceived and there is no room for any sickness or disease. Any toll the disease, medications have taken on her little body we pray to be restored to Your Glory. Praise you Jesus and Thank You for the healing only You can provide. We praise you and believe un-doubting in Your healing and strength. Amen

With all this business with our baby boy I haven’t really blogged much about the girls, so today is about our girls

Joy is “Mommy’s helper”. when I’m having a rougher day, or I just need a break she seems to be able to pick up on that and helps me out without hesitation. The other day I asked her if she could grab a diaper from their bedroom for Olivia’s diaper change, she said “Okay” and went and got one. As soon as I sat on the floor to change Olivia she took off running down the hall, I turned to Joy and asked if she would mind bringing Olivia to me. Sure enough Joy gently guided Olivia down the hallway and within arms reach (Olivia likes to do as her sister wants). Joy is having a bit harder of a time now that Olivia can reach on top of the fish tank and the counter tops (Joy’s hiding spot for toys), and often she gets frustrated with having to share. Olivia follows Joy around because she’d hate to miss out on anything, and I think Joy sometimes misses her private, alone play time. Joy is completely potty trained (although she sleeps in a diaper she rarely uses it). Joy still loves to sing and dance, and spin Olivia too fast so they fall down. She’s really gotten into praying and loves to talk about Jesus (I’ll blog later about that). All in all she’s just growing up too fast!

Olivia has spunk! She is going through what many refer too as the ”terrible two’s”. she’s 18months old but she’s always been a bit strong willed. Now she knows how to talk so she tells us what she thinks. When I say she talks it’s not full sentences but she sure can repeat words and her favorite is “NO”. If she doesn’t want to do what you ask, she’ll reply firmly “No” then the bottom lip extends and her chin tucks in turning into two. It’s really cute, but sassy. She also likes to ‘help’ me however it usually ends up being more work for me. She likes to stand her ground and not give Joy that toy she’s playing with, however if Joy breaks down into tears, Olivia is quick to hand over whatever will make her happy again. Olivia loves to please people. She still loves to snuggle. We are trying to get her off of drinking her bottle at night. We would brush her teeth then give her her bottle (felt like a waste) so we now try to get her to drink her bottle before we brush, and during the night when she wakes we try to get her back to sleep without drinking anything (usually she would just suckle anyway). She is wearing size 2 clothing, which means some of the clothes Joy still remembers wearing as she was just wearing them this past year. It takes a bit of explaining to Joy that she’s to big for the clothes, and after a few tears, she understands.

Currently both the girls (and myself) are fighting off colds, which means our gentle princess Joy becomes more violent. She’ll smack Olivia if she gets in her way, it’s weird to see her hitting like that (she spanked Olivia the other day for climbing onto her chair!). Olivia becomes more whinny, which is really not like her either. She usually will tell you what she thinks then run away shouting “No” (then circles back for a snuggle) but now she just tosses herself onto the floor crying (very dramatic). I find we let Olivia get away with a lot more ‘drama’ then we ever let Joy get away with, but I hear each child gets away with more and more. We are trying to deal with the screaming run Olivia does but that all takes time (and age understanding). Joy went through this phase as well, however she was never as strong willed as Olivia.

Well that’s the just of it

If you have followed my blog for some time you know about my ‘little secret’. The one that I’m not a good housekeeper. It’s my personal struggle, personal stress when people are coming over.

Well It’s not a stress in my life anymore. Not so long as I stick to my ‘plan’. I write a list, every morning. I actually get the entire list done, if not that day (due to unforeseen circumstances) then I do my best to at least get it all done that week (I keep the list to a minimal, and have a master list of ‘bigger’ projects). Before when Orlund would ask me to do something I’d reply “it’s on the list”, chances were it was. However if that list ever had any hope of being completed was the bigger question, often he would re-ask me over and over until I did do it. NOT anymore, now when I tell him “it’s on the list”, it means it’ll be done as soon as I can get too it (or on the particular day I’ve scheduled it). I think this relieves Orlund’s stress as well as my own.

Every day of the week I do the exact same things, plus anything else needing to be done. (this is again all thanks to Flylady who helped me establish routines and stick too them, she’ s also my personal cheerleader).
Monday; Home blessing~
Girls laundry (sheets included).  De-cat hair furniture (Vac). Empty Trash from all rooms. Vacuum all rooms. Clean Mirrors + doors. Mop Kitchen + Bath.
Tuesday; Towel laundry. Scoop Kitty Litter. Water + fertilize plants. 15 Min current zone.
Wednesday; Mom + dad laundry. Clean fridge. Menu plan + grocery list for next week. Remainder weekly cleaning. Write thank you cards. Write letters + cards.
Thursday; Errand day (switch to whichever day I can go).
Bedding Laundry. Menu’s planned before shopping. Double check list + take. Grocery Day Buy + put away.
Friday; Date night!
Any Extra laundry. File papers. Mend Clothes + polish shoes. Clean out car + check fluids. Move food to fridge freezer for week. Clean out purse. Clean fish tank. Clean laundry room.

I do that every week no matter what. I keep the list on my fridge in a clear sheet protector and with a dry erase pen I check off the items as I go, if I miss an item I do it the next day. I have to admit I’m still not so good at doing Friday’s jobs.
Flylady also has a ‘Zone’ we do every week. This week had 1 day from last month and the rest from this month (resulting in 2 zones this week). These are the jobs I do~
Monday~ Detail dust living room
Tuesday ~ Porch, entry, Dining room, put out hot spots (clean up piles of junk)
Wednesday ~ Walls/ Windows in Dining room (finger prints etc)
Thursday ~ Entry pick up jackets/shoes etc and put away.
Friday ~ Dining/Entry dust window sills/ light/ fans etc.

Also the Monthly goal to learn to do is Menu Plan. I’m bad at menu planning, especially since Orlund does most the cooking (for dinner). Although I do plan to try to do it for next week as since I’m only working 1-2 days a week I figure I can pitch in and do more cooking.

Doing these as well as the ‘do it now’ principal have really helped me out. Everyday there are the usual chores of cleaning the kitchen, picking up toys and just picking up after ourselves. However if I stick to my list and the picking up after myself (which for someone like me is difficult) the house is always 15minutes away from company ready. This got put to the test on Saturday. I was out at a girlfriends baby shower with Joy. Orlund was staying home with Olivia as it was her nap time. I’d left some dishes to be done, and he had agreed to do them. Well I guess his parents called, they were in the neighborhood and wanted to stop in. I came home to find them here, they left shortly after I arrived to continue their day. I asked Orlund “so, how was it getting ready for your parents to come over”. (now before Flylady he would have 1~ told them not to come or 2~ he wouldn’t know where to begin to clean so wouldn’t have done anything.. which would lead to major embarrassment for me!). “it wasn’t bad” he said. After we talked about it, I guess it only took him 15minutes to get ready, and that’s including getting Olivia up from her nap and finishing the dishes!! Of course I would have quickly run the vacuum through, but really it’d been vacuumed 2 days before. It made me SO happy that he had time to get the house tidied up and had the coffee made for when his parents got here. Sure the house isn’t perfect, but heck, we LIVE here!

Of course our dryer stopped working last week, found out it mysteriously got unplugged. We can’t reach the plug in so are trying a bunch of different things to get it plugged in. This has made me skip a few loads of laundry, but since I do it regularly it wont be hard to catch up on. I’m also feeling under the weather. So other than the kitchen and picking up after myself I’ve put the rest on hold (other than things that have to be done ~ like water the plants). I figure if my house is 15minutes from company ready then it wont take me long to catch up.

Hi Danica, Yes I’m blogging about you…
I was wondering if you would be able to send me that link to those Maraschino Cherry Chocolate cookies you had blogged about last year. I made them once, but forgot to write down the recipe, and since you closed your blog I can’t look back on it. ~ Oh I miss your blog… You are such a beautiful writer.
Thanks a million in advance

We drove to Vancouver and spent the night at a friends house.  Once arriving Orlund was upset he hadn’t thought about taking half of Wednesday off so we could spend some actual time visiting! Oh well. We had a wonderful visit and a good sleep. The girls stayed here at the house with Orlund’s mom watching them ~ she unfortunately didn’t get a good sleep! (teething Olivia). I guess right after we pulled out of view, while I was tearing up, Joy turned to Grandma and said “everybody happy! Joy happy, Grandma happy..” she then stretched Olivia’s face into a ‘smile’ “Baby Olivia happy too”. lol.

Thursday morning Orlund and I headed in for our appointment. We stopped for a breakfast at White spot. Yummy. Weird without kids, quiet. Then jumped into the van and headed to the hospital. We arrived an hour early! Yup. Gotta beat that Vancouver traffic! (better early than late, and since we are used to traveling with kids~ if they had of been with us we would have JUST made it.lol). We looked through their gift shop after checking in, there was a REALLY cute baby blanket, unfortunately the price wasn’t so cute. No purchase from us.

Finally we got to go in and have the ultrasound. Orlund got to come in right away, and we got to watch the entire ultrasound on a big screen TV. The technician pointed out what all it was we were looking at (I pretty much new). Got to see the two parts of the brain and all the fun little parts you don’t notice on a regular ultrasound. Then came the question “do you know what you are having?” “Nope”"Do you want to know??”…lets just say there was a lot of discussion going on. We found out!! We are having a………………….lol. yes I’m going to make you wait a bit longer! I’ll post a pic later revealing the gender. After she was done getting all the measurements etc she had to go clear it all with a Doctor and make sure she had gotten all the shots she needed. After a wait that seemed to take forever (5minutes) she returned and said we were done. “Baby does have a 2 vessel umbilical cord, but otherwise is completely healthy”. “What about the cyst on the Placenta?” I asked, I hadn’t even seen her look at the placenta. “the placenta? let me see” she looks back through our paper work. Apparently my Dr misinformed me, Baby had some cysts on the spongy thing in the brain (it’s between the two halves and makes spinal/brain fluid). However the cysts were GONE

Then we had an hour and half wait until our ‘Genetic counseling’. We went to the cafeteria and paid way to much for some, not overly exciting food. But it filled us up. It was close to the time we were to head upstairs (figured we’d just go early). Upstairs we went. Apparently they make you wait an hour so that they have time to get the results. So we figured we would be waiting about 1/2 hour. Well that time came and went. Orlund and I read all the information they had on the walls (about genetics etc). Interesting, but not that interesting. I finally decided I was to tired to just sit there, so I took a snooze. I had just gotten into a good deep sleep when the counselors came in. She asked me if I was okay… lol.. what else is a pregnant woman who for once doesn’t have kids with her supposed to do while waiting an hour and a half? NAP.

We went into the room with the two counselors (one was in training). Boy do they ever beat around the bush! Sure if there was a major complication it would have been perfect. However as we found out, Baby is good. First we talked about the umbilical cord (as the two things are NOT related at all). Orlund asked the question on both our minds “so what could happen to our baby? what does it mean?” Apparently the only thing that could happen is we could have a small baby….although by the measurements on the ultrasound we have a big baby ~ so they aren’t worried.

Then we came to the cysts. Apparently these cysts are common (same as the cord), and it is common for them to come and go, so we will get another ultrasound around 32weeks to see if they are back. The only reason they are even looking at them again (or looked at them again) is because there were two ‘markers’ even if unrelated. We asked the same question about what the cysts could mean. Apparently they can be an indication of a very serious genetic disease. One that they didn’t tell us exactly what it is. However usually if a baby has this disease then they will have other issues, ie~ missing limbs, brain issues, heart issues etc. And our baby only has the cysts. They also said that we could have an Amnio (forget how to spell the full name) if we wished to know 100%, and we could have it performed RIGHT THEN! I luckily know a bit about Amnio’s. There is a 1 in 200 chance of miscarriage, and we would need to spend another night in Vancouver. I said no. I have Faith that God has taken care of this and so there is nothing to worry about. Orlund wanted me to make the decision as he was worried I’d worry and wonder about it the rest of our pregnancy ~ I wont. I said NO, so he told the ladies “we wouldn’t do anything about it anyway, so unless there is a VERY good reason, such as the doctors need to know for delivery or shortly after, then there is no point putting our baby at risk”. The Lady that was training the other said that was a good way to put it, if you wouldn’t do anything anyway why bother.

So with that we were done. On our way out of town we swung by Ikea and hit up the kids section to see if we could find a ‘treat’ for the girls. Unfortunately that stop brought us right into rush hour traffic. THAT is the reason I wouldn’t want to live in Vancouver! It took us well over an hour to go a very short distance! We stopped by Orlund’s Aunt’s house to pick up two bed frames for the girls. THANK YOU! And then headed home with a very full van.

We arrived late at night, Thanked Orlund’s mom and dad and headed to bed.
So glad to be home, but even more so THANKFUL to Jesus for our healthy baby #3.

Thank you for your prayers and I’ll be sure to upload that picture soon

So, today I anxiously awaited the phone call from ‘Patti’ my Dr’s receptionist. It was 10am, she’d said to call if I hadn’t heard anything by 10/11am. I decided to be patient so took the kids for a walk. It was the ‘first’ real walk I’ve taken in a long time (lazy me!), wow! Talk about baby ‘pressure’ and braxton hicks contractions!

Anyway, we returned from our walk, and Patti hadn’t called. So I called her. She received the Fax while we were on the phone and printed it off. She asked me “are you ready to hear when it is? because it’s soon” “oh yeah” “Thursday Oct 20th”.. Yeah, as in 2 days from now!! So that means we need to drive to Vancouver TOMORROW night! YIKES! Patti had told me before it would be soon, I figured that meant NEXT week soon, not THIS week soon!! So as you can imagine I have Orlund scrambling lol. He’s talking to his mom to see if she can babysit the girls (They don’t sleep through the night so it can be hard, and we don’t want to over tire her), and while on his lunch break he’s driving down to the Dr’s office to pick up the package of information we’ll need. Oh and of course telling his boss that he needs Thursday off!

This is happening quickly! Oh and now we will also need to figure out where to stay for the night.
I’ll keep you updated. God Bless! And thank you for the continued prayers.

I’ve been ‘patiently’ waiting to hear from the Dr’s office if they knew where we would be going for our next Ultrasound (Vancouver or Kelowna). I gave them a week. Today I called, the receptionist said she would look into it and get back to me. By lunch I figured perhaps she knew the answer but hadn’t had a chance to call me. So I called her again. I found out some interesting information I hadn’t thought about… First we are going to go to Vancouver for the ultrasound. She knew that. I guess she called them, and they are usually quick at responding so I should know by the end of the day (thank goodness that’s 4pm!). However the things I learned ~ Apparently this is an ALL day affair! We also don’t get to pick which day it’ll be, Vancouver picks that. The appointment is usually from around 9am to 2pm. First we will meet with some Doctors, then have the detailed ultrasound (hope we get to watch, or at least see some), then we meet with the doctors again (with some counselors) and go over the results right then and there!! Which is nice because we’ll have answers quickly and not have to wait to come home and find out. She will call me sometime today and let me know what day it is that we will need to go. Also they will have a package of information for us to pick up at the office. Makes it sound scary, but I have faith in our God. Heck my little believer Joy prayed for baby to be okay, how can it not be? (I’ll blog about that next).

Here's our baby #3

However…. This means that we will have to leave our girls somewhere over night!! First time EVER! (Joy stayed at our house with my mom when Olivia was born but that’s the ONLY time). Sure we have family in Vancouver, that I’m sure I could ask to watch them for the day, however, Orlund’s Aunt has some beds for the girls that we need to bring home (and in order to fit them into the van we need all the seats out). Orlund had been planning a trip with his mom to go down and get the beds, however now since we will be going we can just pick them up. The receptionist told me that usually people go down the night before due to how early these appointments are (and you wouldn’t want to miss it!). So that is probably what we will be doing. I think this will be hard on me! Leaving my baby girls… I know they will be fine, it’s probably harder on me than anyone else. Guess we just wait for the phone call with the times and then see who is available for babysitting the cutest girls around

See ~ such cuties!